Mercer County Health Department closes due to COVID exposure

Greg Jordan, Bluefield Daily Telegraph, W.Va.
·1 min read

Dec. 7—BLUEFIELD — A decision to close the Mercer County Health Department early Tuesday morning due to COVID-19 exposure was made out of "an abundance of caution," the interim administrator said.

Officials with the Mercer County Health Department announced that the department would closed until Dec. 13. The closure includes all of the health department's services.

"We detected it (Monday), and in an abundance of caution, we're going to do deep cleaning and we're going to close for five days," interim administrator Bonnie Allen said. "Everybody's vaccinated, so that's why we can do the five days. And, again, we want to protect the community."

Allen said that she had "no doubt at all" that the health department would reopen Dec. 13, and that patients did not need to be concerned. While the department's service are closed, people can go to their family practitioner, one of the Bluestone Health Association Clinics or MedExpress.

A vaccination clinic scheduled for Wednesday at the Karen Preservati Center in Princeton will be rescheduled as soon as possible, according to the announcement.

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com